RFP: Traveling Exhibition 2024/2025 | Design for the Common Good (DCG)

The Design for the Common Good International Exhibition is prepared to travel and we are actively seeking proposals for our next venue!

Agency, empowerment, impact: these characteristics distinguish the work featured in the Design for the Common Good International Exhibition, an inaugural occasion where a coalition of international organizations have come together to share best practices in public interest design. Collectively known as Design for the Common Good, the work shown here exemplifies ways communities, organizations, teams of designers, architects, landscape architects, planners, and more are creating positive change from the ground up. These typically localized scale-appropriate efforts are transformative in the places where they matter most—settings where there is a distinct call to action, a needed response to critical issues affecting people and their ability to live life at its fullest.

Representing design from around the world, the exhibition showcases a curated collection of thirty-two projects from six continents and twenty-three countries. Established by the Design for the Common Good Network (DCGN) in Denver, Colorado (2022) as the parent exhibition, today the exhibition travels with added peer-reviewed and curator-invited projects that build the collection.

While each project is unique in its methods, the fundamental philosophy of working to achieve community-derived and -driven goals are found throughout. To further realize this, exhibition projects have been grouped according to key issues addressed. Six dominant themes have emerged from this collection and serve as a unifying framework for understanding how public interest design operates to maximize social, economic, and environmental impacts within communities across the globe. The issues include Equity, Education, Community, Cultural Heritage, Sustainability, and Urban Resilience.

Organization

Organization provided by the Design for the Common Good Network (DCGN) and supported in part by DCGN affiliate networks, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Overview

• The exhibition is available to travel from two sites—Budapest, Hungary and Denver, Colorado, USA.

• The body of work consists of thirty-two curated projects from twenty-three countries and six continents. The number of works shown at any given venue is at the discretion of the Curator and contingent upon available and appropriate space.

Budapest Exhibition Assets:

• Thirty-two digitally printed project banners size (100 cm x 220 cm) containing individual explanatory project texts, titling, credits, and images (all exhibition narrative texts provided in English);

• Six color coded thematic issue groups: Equity, Education, Community, Cultural Heritage, Sustainability, and Urban Resilience;

• Two interpretive narratives consisting of the Curator’s Statement and Global Impact data visualization;

• Forty sets of top and bottom hanging brackets;

• Five available project videos.

Denver Exhibition Assets:

• Over 300 digitally printed individual images;

• Six color coded thematic issue groups: Equity, Education, Community, Cultural Heritage, Sustainability, and Urban Resilience;

• Interpretive narratives consisting of the Curator’s Statement and Global Impact data visualization (digital or print);

• Individual explanatory project narratives and credits, titling, issue banners thematic texts, and project distribution maps available with English and Spanish translations;

• Five available project videos.

Additional Features:

• A unique opportunity to grow the exhibition with host venue recommendation of regional projects for peer review.

• The Design for the Common Good website hosts exhibition-specific digital archives that variously include an exhibition catalog, app, and other featured content.

Request for Proposals

Interested host venues are encouraged to contact the exhibition curator for terms and conditions of the travel agreement as well as travel logistics, insurance, and scale/size of the show and its inclusions. Desirable host venues will be able to manage exhibition assets with archival care; work with lender to help facilitate next-destination travel; and identify feasible exhibition dates, length of show term as well as anticipated schedule. Venues that align with the core philosophies of DCGN, the exhibition theme, and content are desirable.

Proposals to host the Design for the Common Good International Exhibition should include the following information , sent to contact listed below:

• Borrowing institution and/or venue, name and address

• Borrowing institution and/or venue mission

• Lead contact name, email, phone

• Square feet available for exhibition

• Desired exhibition schedule and timeline including opening and closing dates

• Ability to participate in the submission of regional projects for peer review: DCGN is committed to continuing the education and expanding the reach of public interest design work. To facilitate this we invite exhibiting venues to participate in a collaborative process with DCGN to grow the exhibition with the submission of additional projects representative of regional or local perspectives for potential inclusion in the hosted show.

• Ability to provide additional programming in conjunction with the exhibition such as roundtable discussion, lecture(s), or mini-conference

Contact:
Lisa M. Abendroth
Curator & Organizer, Design for the Common Good International Exhibition
[email protected]

Banner image project credit: We all Need A Home, Research Group for Solidarity in Architecture at University of Pécs Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, Marcell Breuer Doctoral School, TÁMASZ Foundation’s Nursing Home for the Homeless, Image: Courtesy of Research Group for Solidarity in Architecture.